Construction of a ski lift



Sept. 18, 1962 KUNIO IGAYA CONSTRUCTION OF A SKI LIFT Filed July 18, 1961 INVENTOR. Kulv l0 IGAYA BY M F Wm M ATTORNEYS United States Patent @fifice dfififiiifi Patented Sept. 18, 1962 sesame CONSTRUCTKON SE A SET LIFT Kunio Igaya, N o. 7148 Azmkenotaira, Yarnanouehimachi, Shimotakai-gun, Nagano, Japan Filed July 18, 1961, Ser. No. 124,935 Claims priority, application Japan July 22, 196i] 4 Claims. (Cl. 164-173) The present invention relates to a construction of a ski lift.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a ski lift which enables riders to get on and off the same without assistance.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a ski lift which gives no jerk to a rider at the time of riding and accordingly can completely prevent riders from tumbling.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a ski lift which enables the position of riders to be automatically raised and lowered in respect of the height of the main wire rope according to the unevenness of the snow on the ground.

The novel features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in the appended claims. The invention itself, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of a specific embodiment when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view showing the state of use of a ski lift according to the present invention; and

FIG. 2 is a perspective side view showing a principal part of the ski lift.

Now explaining in detail an embodiment of the present invention with reference to the attached drawings, on a main wire rope I stretched around top pulleys and return pulleys (both are not shown in the drawings) for rotative movement, there are fixed fitting members 2 at a suitable interval. One end of a U-shaped connecting rod 3 is attached to said fitting member 2 and the other end of said connecting rod 3 is attached to a pulley member 6 having a pulley 5 mounted therein for rotative movement by means of an axis 4. On said pulley 5, there is suspended a wire rope 13 of which one end is fired to a projection 8 provided on a cylindrical weight 7 and the other end of which is made to pass through said weight 7 for loose fit therewith and is fixed to a loop 12 provided at the center of a horizontal rod 11 having rings 9', 19 on both ends thereof forming the shape of a drum together with other horizontal rods 21, 22. To said rings 9, 10, the ends of wire ropes 15, 16 are respectively attached and the other ends of said wire ropes 1'5, 16 are fastened to a drag rope 14. The other end of said drag rope 14 is fixed to the lower end of said U-shaped connecting rod 3 of the front unit. From said rings 9, 10, there are suspended rods 19, 2% each having a saddle 17 or 18 at the lower end thereof. Furthermore, in the attached drawings, 23 is a skier, 24 shows a pole and 25 is an upper pulley for the main wire rope 1.

In the conventional two-seat T-bar lifts of the type hitherto in use, it has been necessary to have an assistant in order to lower the bar and to fit it to the backside of riders, Further, the skiers are usually subjected to jerky rides, particularly at the start. This sometimes has led a rider on the other seat to be tumbled at the same time. Furthermore, in fitting the bar to the backside of the riders by the assistant, it has been difficult and accordingly has necessitated certain skillfulness to fit the bar properly to the backsides of the riders in view of that it requires good timeliness in so doing.

According to the present invention, however, as the lift is constructed as described above, when a rider grips either one of the rings 9, 10, the same is lowered pulling the weight 7 upward which works as a bufier and accordingly no jerk which has been common in the conventional construction of the lift is given to the body of the rider. As the rider can thus be in the stabilized posture, he can easily put the bar 19 or 20 between his thighs by one hand while holding the ring by the other and can fit the saddle 17 or 18 to his backside and, therefore, no assistant as in the case of the conventional lift is required. Thus, the rider can proceed smoothly being balanced by the weight 7 and sliding on the snow as the ring 9 or 10 and the saddle 17 or 18 are made to advance being dragged by the drag rope 14 and the wire ropes 15, 16. Furthermore, as the rings 9, 10 can automatically be lowered and raised by means of the rope i3 and the weight 7, irrespective of the difference in the height of riders and the distance between the main wire rope I and the snow on the ground, the riders can always maintain a natural posture and can slide on the snow extremely smoothly.

While I have illustrated and described the preferred embodiment of my invention, it is to be understood that I do not limit myself to the precise constructions herein disclosed and the right is reserved to all changes and modifications coming within the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by United States Letters Patent is:

1. In a ski tow having an overhead traction cable and a plurality of conveyor means downwardly depending from said cable in spaced apart relationship for conveying skiers, the improvement which comprises that each conveyor member comprises (a) a rigid support portion adapted to be gripped by a hand of a skier,

(b) a rod portion, one end of said rod portion being swingably mounted on said support portion while the other end has a saddle member adapted to engage the rear of a skier, and

(c) a length-adjustable portion between said rigid support portion and said traction cable, said lengthadjustable portion being responsive to pull exerted by the hand of the skier gripping said rigid support portion.

2. The improvement of claim 1, further comprising rope means extending between said rigid support portion and the adjacent forward conveyor member.

3. In a ski tow having an overhead traction rope and a plurality of conveyor members downwardly depending from said rope in spaced apart relationship, the improvement which comprises that each conveyor member comprises (a) a rigid handle-forming support structure to be gripped by a hand of a skier,

(b) a rod portion, one end of which is swingably mounted on said support structure while the other end has a saddle-forming member adapted to engage the rear of a skier with the rod extending between the skiers legs, and

(c) a length-adjustable portion between said traction rope and said support structure, said length-adjustable portion including a pulley, and a weighted rope trained around said pulley and being secured to said support structure.

4. The improvement of claim 3, wherein said weighted rope includes a weight having a passage, one end of i said rope being attached to the weight while the other end passes through said passage and is attached to said support structure.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,087,232 Constam July 20, 1937 

